University of Central Florida Visit Report by Crucifymecaptain

Visit Activities:

Information Session: Yes - We went on open house. The introductory information session was in an auditorium with hundreds of people. They outlined activities for the day and separated people in groups of college of interest.

Campus Tour: Yes - They provided tours of the college, but we didn't go on it because child got own personal tour from a friend attending the college

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Campus:

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We didn't see many people because it was on a summer weekend, but the few we encountered were rather friendly.

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The peopled there seemed friendly but not too much interaction went on between us and them.

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The campus is beautiful, that's for sure. It looks modern and not to mention extremely clean. All the buildings are in excellent shape, so that immediately caught our attention.

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The buildings are all in excellent shape, and they were very clean. The bathroom had a bit of writing on the wall, but overall everything looked sharp.

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The dormitories were very nice. They are fairly new and were in great shape. We visited suite styled dormitories in Pegasus Landing, and they looked better than most of the dorms at other colleges.

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We did see police and security guards roaming around, and the campus looks like it is located in a decent part of town, so security does not seem like it is a big concern at UCF.

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The campus gave a good impression. It was nice &clean, and just aesthetically pleasing. However, you do get the sense of a commuter college, and so campus life was not as present as in other schoo

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Off-Campus:

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It wasn't Beverly Hills or anything. In fact, we saw mostly shopping centers and fast food places, but the area looked new and it appeared to be rather secure.

Campus Visit Notes for University of Central Florida

Visit Description:

We arrived to the campus on a Friday afternoon in July, so the campus was rather empty since classes were not going on. In addition, since it was the summer, the presence of a large amount of students was not detectable.

The college itself is a very nice place to be if you like a cleaner modern look than your typical ivy covered hundred-year-old buildings. There are trees, but they are not very tall, so there isn't as much shade as you would see in other colleges in the state such as FSU and UF. There are green lawns everywhere, so it almost has a golf-course like appearance, with lots of green space.

The campus is VERY big, so if you are on foot, you might have to walk a while before you get to your desired site. Most students on campus ride bicycle from what we saw, but many park their cars in the parking garages, or even go on foot. Fortunately, there are maps all around, so it would be pretty difficult to get lost, and since the place is shaped like a big circle, it is pretty easy to get the hang of getting around (although we never really got the trick of it.)

The dormitories are very nice buildings, and according to many students, nicer than the dorms at UF and even at FSU. There were different residence areas named after different warriorly figures like Nike, Pegasus, Libra, etc. The dorms looked new, and overall looked like an attractive place. There are also new residence towers which look like nice condos from the outside although we did not go inside them.

The Student Union building had many different places to eat, much like the other student unions along the state, although the student union at UF was much more impressive. However, this one had some good places to get food, although mostly fast food joints. There was also a Barnes 'n Nobles located on the other side of the campus.

I could keep on going forever about our visit, but overall I think it is a very positive one. The university is Under Construction Forever, which is in a way a good thing because there are more educational opportunities every single year. The University is much less selective than UF, but over the years it has been getting more and more selective in its admissions process, although still easy to get in. We thought that the University was definitely a good option, even though it didn't seem it was quite at the level that UF was. However, this might change in several years because of the rapid growth of the University, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it rank up there right with UF in time. UCF seems like a good place to send off your kids to college if they want to get a good education in a nice place. However, most kids in Florida would probably choose UF because it provides more of that college experience since Gainesville is first and foremost a college town. Nevertheless, UCF did appear as an attractive choice and near the top of my child's list.

Hotel/Lodging Recommendations or Comments:

We stayed at the Hampton. It was one of the cheapest hotels near the campus but we definitely enjoyed our stay.